Just in the last decade over a million Rwandese were killed in cold blood. The dominant Hutu leadership decided to eliminate the Tutsis. They strategically isolated the Tutsis and used the common Hutus to kill their neighbours, colleagues, relatives by all sorts of brutal means. Hysterical propaganda was made that the Tutsis deserved to die and people fell for it. Over 1 million Rwandese were killed, which is nearly one out of every 7 citizen.

With the enactment of the 1948 apartheid law in South Africa, the minority whites dominated and marginalized the majority blacks till 1994. Racial discrimination at its worst was practiced openly. National resources, wealth and services were badly skewed towards the advantage of the 20% white population. Two generations suffered and the after effects still go on.

If one were to analyze these mass movements of suppression and killing, the powerful person / group systematically disintegrated the weaker groups. Families were separated, communities were dispersed. When individuals lost the support of their family and community, they became weak and vulnerable. The tormentors on the other hand formed a strong, united group, which added to their power. The strong became stronger and the weak, weaker. The strong then carried out their whims and fancies. Principles of justice, fairness, equity were all thrown to the winds. There was no one to question.

It has been very difficult to bring these divided and broken communities together again. Their value system has been broken and people tend to do what they like with no one to question. Although one must say that the reconciliation and healing process in Rwanda has been noteworthy.

It is perhaps unlikely that such a genocide or apartheid will happen too easily again. However, another strong force, “Globalization” is slowly at work today. One of the dangerous similarities is that families and communities are systematically broken. People, especially the poor are becoming vulnerable and powerless. The powerful – perhaps nations or multinational companies, or rich landlords and industrialists are going ahead with more and more courage to accomplish what they please. Principles of justice, fairness and equity are being thrown to the winds. The process is slow, but there are many similarities.

To add to this threat, a new concept is gaining popularity. The propagators of this development philosophy say that the very poor and vulnerable sections of society are “non-viable”. They advocate that they should be left out in ones development plans since to develop them takes too much effort and resources and the end result is not guaranteed. Leave the non-viable out and get along with the rest is what they preach. Unfortunately, in some countries, this non-viable section of society can be more than 30%. Can such a vast number of humanity be left out as “non-viable”?

It is in such a context that the Self Help approach takes added meaning as a development approach. Unlike many other approaches, the starting point is the poorest sections of the community, reaching out to the most vulnerable. In many cases, the first groups start with women, who are less privileged in their communities. It is however not for women alone. It reaches out to the entire community. It is basically a process of rebuilding breaking and fragmenting communities to a strong people’s institution. This “People’s institution” is built on three pillars as depicted in the enclosed sketch. They are:

o Social empowerment
o Economic empowerment
o Political empowerment

It is not merely a development process but an empowerment process, which seeks to make the weak strong. This implies that power in the hands of the few will dissipate. The chart below presents some indicators to explain the difference between the development stage and the empowerment stage, especially in the Self Help approach context:

Empowerment in these three areas will bring Justice and Equity in society.

For example, in the state of Tamilnadu in Southern India, statistics show that there are 142,000 Self Help Groups and their total savings amount to USD 90 million. On one hand, this is a good indicator. However it speaks of development and not so much of empowerment.

On the other hand, a fledgling NGO in Ethiopia has started the SH approach in one of the poorer districts of the country just 18 months back. There are 20 SHGs and their combined savings is just a modest USD 500. This is an area where Female Genital Mutilation is a traditional practice, which is still rampant. The SHG members discussed this issue in their meetings and have resolved that they will abolish this evil practice against womanhood. The groups in their bye-laws have stated that as a member of the SHG they will abstain from propagating this practice and restrain others in the community from doing so. They were very positive that this traditional practice will be abolished over a period of time. This is an indicator of empowerment.

One of the basic principles of this approach is that God has created every single human being in “His own image”. There is tremendous potential in every man and woman. This approach is all about unleashing this potential. It is done best collectively in small, homogenous groups. The groups are then linked together to form a People’s Institution, where the members start taking their life situations in their hands and start dealing with them. It is important that the promoting organisation does not approach the people with a preset agenda, but just with the objective of building a strong, People’s Institution.

Empowerment should enable people fight against the injustices in their communities / society and create a world where there is justice and equity.